Hadassah-Brandeis Institute Summer Internship Program

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

The application deadline is approaching for the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute Summer Internship Program (it is March 25, 2010).

The Hadassah-Brandeis Institute accepts six undergraduate and two graduate students with a demonstrated interest in Women’s Studies, Jewish Women’s Studies, or topics related to Jewish women/Jewish gender issues around the world to participate in our residential internship program. Applications are accepted from students attending universities in the US and abroad.

Undergraduate Interns:
–Work 35 hours per week, Monday-Friday
–Produce under staff supervision, an original piece of scholarly or creative work focusing on Jewish women and/or gender issues
–Work closely with HBI and Brandeis staff and scholars on new and established research projects
–Learn about the daily operations of an academic research institute by occasionally assisting with administrative tasks
–Visit local institutions and organizations of Jewish interest
–Meet local community activists
–Live on the Brandeis campus in subsidized housing

Similar in structure to the undergraduate program, the graduate student interns assist HBI-affiliated scholars as well as work on their own research projects. Graduate student interns work closely with their supervisors, who also act as their academic advisors. While not a requirement, the ideal candidates are working towards a degree in an area of study related to the supervisors’ expertise. All field trips and extracurricular activities are optional for the graduate student interns.

For details of this summer’s projects and application instructions, visit the internship site.

Friday Find: "How to Create a Simple Writer Blog"

by Erika Dreifus on
9

For those of you who have not yet created a blog, today’s your lucky day! Peta Jinnath Andersen provides some truly excellent tips on getting one started. I wish I’d seen a post like this before I started mine!

Which raises a question I’ve considered asking here before: Have any of you transferred a blog from Blogger to WordPress, and if so, what advice do you have?

Thanks, and enjoy the weekend. See you back here on Monday. (Can’t believe it will be March!)

Book Reviewing is NOT the Same as Sitting on the Couch Watching Bad TV

by Erika Dreifus on
3

Earlier this week, Jason Boog reported on Arianna Huffington’s keynote speech at the “Tools of Change” conference. As I read the summary, I thought: Hey, Arianna! I’m with you! Especially when I read: “Huffington also explored the idea behind The Huffington Post books section, rejecting ‘this magical pub date’– the traditional time-period for scheduling book reviews and running book tours. ‘Forget about it–the idea that you have three weeks between pub date and oblivion. It doesn’t have to be like that,’ she said, earning a smattering of applause.” (A smattering of applause? I should think she would have received a standing ovation, at least from the writers and publishing professionals in the room.)

Anyway, as I say, I was with her–until I read this:

“Finally, she addressed the perennial criticism that many writers on the site don’t get paid. ‘Self expression is the new entertainment,’ she explained. ‘We never used to question why people sit on the couch for seven hours a day watching bad TV. Nobody ever asked, ‘Why are they doing that for free?’ We need to celebrate that moment rather than question it.'”

(Spoken like someone who might have both a huge divorce settlement AND a slew of advertisers and may not exactly depend on income generated by her own writing to pay her bills.)

Now, it may surprise some of you to learn that I’m just as capable of sitting on the couch for seven hours (when I have seven hours to spare) watching bad TV as the next person. (While I’m in confession mode, I may as well tell you that last weekend my sister and I went to see Kathy Griffin perform here New York. She–Kathy Griffin– was hilarious. There. By the way, if you don’t watch television, don’t bother going to see Kathy Griffin. Whenever she’s not imitating her mother, she’s talking about various reality shows and “characters. Or Anderson Cooper. Or Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.)

But I digress.

When I write, the “entertainment” factor differs significantly from what results when I stare at my TV. Any “entertainment” that comes from reviewing, for instance, is pure pleasure from the work, satisfaction from reading a book I (hopefully) want to tell others about (for that matter, reading it at least twice), thinking about that book, rechecking everything from the list price to the page count, and writing and crafting a text that will make sense and perhaps even resonate with readers. It’s work. It may be absorbing, self-expressive, and even entertaining work. But even if we choose not to be paid for it–as we might when writing for a particular cause/organization–it’s still work.

It’s not sitting on a couch watching bad TV.

Jewish Book Week 2010: Guest Post by Andrew Sanger

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

Jewish Book Week 2010

by Andrew Sanger

This year, London’s Jewish Book Week coincides with Purim. Plenty of extra fun is promised as an unlikely band of comedians and academics get together to put on a Purim Spiel “with a contemporary twist and some all-new conspiracy theories.”

Jewish Book Week is not just Europe’s biggest festival of writing for, about and by Jews. It’s a highlight of the UK’s non-Jewish literary calendar, too. Few other events in Britain attract so many highbrow and high-profile speakers. In fact, the modest billing as a “book week” doesn’t do justice to a culture-fest delving the whole eclectic mix of arts, science, politics and ideas.

The venue is surprisingly low-key – three conference rooms in a dated 3-star hotel in the heart of Bloomsbury, traditionally London’s literary district – and in the typically British way there’s nothing slick about it and no razzmatazz.

Yet during the course of the week, as many as 10,000 visitors come to browse, buy and, most of all, attend a succession of talks and debates with an astonishing array of leading journalists, novelists, historians, philosophers, playwrights, actors and broadcasters.

There are quite a few non-Jews among them. The 2010 programme includes talks by the popular mathematician Professor Marcus du Sautoy and former Sixties activist and present-day Leftist political writer Tariq Ali (who is of Pakistani Muslim origin).

Of course, the “Jewish” in Jewish Book Week covers the whole spectrum, from militantly secular to devoutly Orthodox. Among this year’s speakers are the anti-Zionist novelist Will Self, the fertility expert Professor Robert Winston (who manages to combine being a leading scientist and a lord with being an observant Jew) and Britain’s Orthodox Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.

The biggest names are usually scheduled for 7 p.m. and 8.30 p.m., but the show is open all day long. There’s something going on all the time.

Up-and-coming authors can often be heard at lunchtime talks. I was lucky enough to be a speaker myself last year, at a “Meet The Author” event. These take place in the early evening, when many people drop in after finishing work. An interview about my novel The J-Word was followed by comments and questions that turned into a terrific discussion on the issues the book raises about secular Jewish identity.

Friendly, intelligent and informal, talks usually end with a book signing, perhaps a chance to exchange a few thoughts of your own with the author or even to continue in the JBW café.

–––––
Andrew Sanger is a well-established travel writer living in London, England. He has contributed to a wide range of British newspapers and news-stand magazines, and is the author of more than 30 guidebooks. His first novel, The J-Word, published in England in 2009 to wide acclaim, has just been released in the United States.